Master plan for the Alamo unveiled

When you think San Antonio, more than likely, you think of The Alamo. Sitting in the heart of the city, The Alamo is one part of the San Antonio Missions which is Texas' only world heritage site. Now, there are plans to change the Alamo plaza as we know it.

Author:
Andrea Martinez

Published:
7:24 PM CDT April 15, 2017

When you think San Antonio, more than likely, you think of The Alamo. Sitting in the heart of the city, The Alamo is one part of the San Antonio Missions which is Texas' only world heritage site. Now, there are plans to change the Alamo plaza as we know it.

Those plans will include closing off streets opposite of the site, moving the shops across the street, and making room for a museum.

The Texas General Land Office, the City of San Antonio, and the Alamo Endowment unveiled their plans Tuesday night at a public hearing. They took questions from members of the audience and answered them in three minutes.

The master plan will improve the visitor's experience by guiding them through one entrance point only -- the south gate.

A topic of controversy was the board's plans to move the cenotaph, which bears the names of those who fought in the battle.

One woman at the meeting spoke up, saying:

"We've all lived with the cenotaph and we all love it. I hate to see it moved or destroyed."

Vincent Martinez Huizar also has his concerns about the changing of the Alamo plaza. He is a sixth generation descendant of Don Pedro Huizar, a builder at San José mission. He worries about how the surrounding area and missions will be preserved.

"They need to show respect to those grounds, not just the front of the church but all the grounds around the Alamo," he said.

But others, like Virgil Rosser, welcome the changes.

"What they're going to do is going to make this a world heritage site that we're all going to be proud of," Rosser said.

The Alamo master plan is a $200 to $300 million project over the upcoming decade.